Social networking sites are one of the fastest and least expensive ways to find your audience and help your business grow. Create a professional social media presence on various social networking sites, then harness the power of connecting to new and repeat customers. A good social networking presence can help you conduct inexpensive market research, create public relations campaigns and gain a better understanding of your marketplace. Here's how to use social networking sites to help your business grow:

Steps

1

Sign up for accounts at social networking communities such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Choose social networking communities that best reflect your audience demographics. For example, LinkedIn is geared toward building business connections while Facebook is a fun way for friends of all ages and backgrounds to share news about their lives, product preferences and activities.

Add social networking icons or "badges" in conspicuous places on your website for each social networking community you join. These important icons tell customers where you network and encourages them to join your circle in that community.

2

Share news about your company. From your latest product launch to free product giveaways to important awards the company received, social network marketing keeps your circle informed about what's going on in your office. Regularly holding contests and product giveaways in your social networking community can help generate even more excitement about your company.

Keep announcements brief but make them compelling enough to attract readers.

3

Post new job openings. Instead of advertising to a random group of people in online job boards, consider announcing your job listings on your favorite business-oriented social networking sites. Someone in your social circle may know just the right person and you'll receive the added benefit of having them do the initial applicant screening for you.

4

Build your online presence across the Internet by actively maintaining your presence in your social networking communities. Start discussions and ask questions to start relationships with potential new customers and colleagues. Because social media website content is now indexed by all Internet search engines, your active social networking presence helps bolster your brand recognition by enabling a higher search result ranking. The higher your company information is placed in a search engine, the easier it is for potential customers to find you.

5

Target your message to potential customers without spending a lot of money. People on social networking sites want to connect with others who have similar interests by sharing news about products and services they love. By regularly telling people in your social network about the most unique aspects of your product or service, you increase the likelihood that your social network contacts will share your new with their friends who are outside of your immediate circle. The rate at which you can spread this company news is much faster than with traditional print, radio and television advertising campaigns and the best part is that your social contacts are doing much of the work for you.

6

Understand your audience. Ask your social network friends relevant questions about what they want from the type of service or product your business offers. By doing so, you can acquire fast and cheap market research for your company.

7

Watch what customers are saying about your products, campaigns and other activity. Measure customer enthusiasm (or lack thereof) by posting news about your company and monitoring how many people in your social circle give that announcement their approval. Most social networking sites have analytical tools available to users that show them how many times their interactions were shared with others. Standalone applications such as Klout.com or TweetReach.com can compose aggregate statistics from all social networking communities where you have accounts.

8

Acquire positive customer comments. When people say good things about your business, they are often happy to allow you to reprint their feedback elsewhere in your promotional campaigns. Always ask your satisfied customers if you can share their feedback with others.

9

Watch the competition, vendors and related professional activity. Regularly monitoring the use of keywords and activities relevant to your business can inform you about industry news and product developments. The search engine Google has an "Alert" tool in user accounts that will notify you whenever your preferred search term is used by a website or person. For example, if you sign up for an alert for "XYZ Company," you can be notified each time someone mentions it in a blog post, newspaper article, or forum discussion.